To some he was a great president but others had a contrary opinion. ﾠIt seems that when someone dies people to often eulogize only the positive aspect of that individual’s life while dismissing any of his shortcomings. ﾠﾠThe bottom line is that when one departs this world, will others reflect and acknowledge the impact for better or for worse that you will leave behind. President Reagan is certainly no exception as a host of persons from around the world have come forward to express their feelings as their relationship or experiences with Ronald Reagan.
Out of all these outbursts of sympathy, it is vital that those in position to significantly impact the lives of others realize that nothing last forever and that one day they too will be removed permanently from the stage of life. Therefore, one must always do the right thing. After all, isn’t it “righteousness that will exalt ﾠa nation?” Too many of our leaders have ignored or pretended to be unaware of this fundamental biblical teaching. The end result of all this will be a nation void of all moral principles with a leadership whose agenda is their own selfish interest. This undesirable priority unfortunately will be at the expense of the masses who must suffer, be denied their basic entitlements, or be oppressed to appease their leaders.
However, the President who inspires me the ﾠmost as to how greatness is a measure of a man is Abraham Lincoln. ﾠHe stated that “I do not want to ﾠbe remembered as a great president, but I want to be remembered as a great man.” ﾠﾠﾠThe two may not necessarily be connected as some of the great presidents such as Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler were some of the world’s greatest tyrants. ﾠWhen push comes to shove they did ﾠnot do the right thing to preserve the ﾠpeace or improve the quality of life for all especially the small ﾠman.
When President Lincoln entered a liberated Richmond, Virginia, ﾠthe Confederate’s capitol city during the American Civil War, scores of ﾠnegro slaves now realizing that they were free knelt down before him and tried to kiss his ﾠﾠfeet. ﾠﾠNot looking for any rewards or self-praise, President Lincoln informed his admirers that they must kneel only before God!
President Lincoln had put everything ﾠincluding his political career on the line by making a ﾠtotal emancipation of all slaves as the platform for his re-election and to justify the civil war.
President Reagan on the other hand, ﾠwas not popular with minorities, especially Blacks. It is so ironic that the political party (Republican of which both Lincoln and Reagan represented) that freed the negro slaves could muster up only single digit support from them during Presidential elections. His perceived ﾠsupport of ﾠright-wing conservatives including the racial apartheid government of South Africa was a slap in the face to those who sacrificed for civil progress. ﾠHis austerity program affected Blacks and minorities ﾠtremendously as they were the beneficial recipient of ﾠﾠmany government ﾠprograms. They were the main beneficiaries of most government programs such as health care, education, job training, welfare, etc.
This insensitivity to the cries of the needy and some of America’s most disadvantaged resulted in ﾠhardship for an increasing number of Blacks and minorities. ﾠﾠYet money was easily found to build bombs and buy guns for the biggest peacetime military build-up in the history of the United States. Another controversial and often misunderstood aspect of Ronald Reagan’s Presidency was his economic policy referred to as “Reaganomics.”
Basically, his policy was to cut taxes particularly form the rich ﾠand reduce government spending to improve the economy. This supposedly would stimulate the economy by having the private sector using the “market force” of supply and demand take the risk to expand the economy. Failure to do so would eliminate any hope ﾠof improving the economy in the ﾠﾠlong run. President Reagan referred to this form of “wishful thinking” to expand the economy as “voodoo economics.” ﾠﾠ”Voodoo economics” was the disastrous practice of some countries including the Bahamas to rely solely on the government to expand the economy. ﾠﾠﾠInstead of encouraging the private sector to develop the economy, ﾠit was the ﾠgovernment who over taxed the people to finance wasteful, mismanaged unprofitable ventures. ﾠﾠToday’s Bahamas is still paying for those bad, nationalistic economic ﾠpolicies developed under the PLP government during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Another one of Ronald Reagan’s questionable policy was one that impacted the Bahamas and questioned his integrity. ﾠDespite Ronald Reagan’s claim of an all out war against drugs and “Just Say No” policy, the ﾠpublic was stunned when it was revealed by “60 Minutes” that a plane shot down over Nicaragua ﾠby the ﾠSandinista government who were fighting ﾠthe Reagan-backed Contras was leased by a ﾠBahamian drug lord. ﾠTo this day no one has satisfactorily explained the relationship between the Bahamian drug lords and the CIA , especially in light of the 1984 Commission of Inquiry investigating drug smuggling and corruption in the Bahamas.
As someone who attended Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in January 1980, ﾠI can ﾠrecall the great joy of ﾠrelief when it was announced during the ceremonies that after 444 days in captivity, the Iran hostages were ﾠﾠon their way home. ﾠﾠHence ﾠRonald Reagan’s presidency was off to a good start as far as foreign policy was concerned.
Undoubtedly his greatest achievement was ending the Cold War and tearing down the Berlin Wall ﾠ- the yoke of oppression. ﾠFor millions of ﾠeastern Europeans this was their liberation from the “evil empire” that kept them imprisoned behind a nine hundred mile long electrified fence supported with automatic machine guns and attack dogs. Death ﾠcame to hundreds for trying to escape their harsh and oppressive existence behind the wall where provisions in treaties established by the United Nations entitling all persons to fundamental human rights were ignored for decades.
The ending of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is probably Ronald Reagan’s greatest legacy. With thousands of nuclear weapons far more powerful than the ones hitting Hiroshima and Nagasaki pointed at each other whose deadly fallout could have been unleashed at a moment’s notice, the world was indeed in danger of self-annihilation in which there could be no winners. A Doomsday Clock monitored how close the world was to an all out nuclear war. When the Cold War ended, the B-52 bombers and submarines that have been carrying nuclear weapons since 1953 on a 24/7 cease to exist. This was a remarkable achievement considering not a single shot (or missile) was fired.
Despite his many achievements, regrettably after his presidency ended, his mind deteriorated. ﾠHis experience and wisdom could have helped to reduce conflict and promote human rights in the world.
Dr. Leatendore Percentie, DDS
Boston, Massachusetts
June 28th, 2004
